The present invention relates generally to the field of energy recycling, and relates more particularly to the recycling of air expelled from computer servers. Specifically, the invention is a method and apparatus for generating electricity using recycled air from a computer server.
As circuits in microchips become denser, an increasing amount of waste heat must be expelled from computers in order to prevent the chips from overheating. This is especially true for large machines such as server units. Typical computer servers are capable of drawing up to approximately 30 kW of power under normal operation. However, a major portion of this energy is not used in the operation of the computer per se, but is rather wasted in the form of heat which must be ventilated, for example by means of a heat sink (e.g., a copper block in contact with the microprocessor chips) or a fan that expels exhaust through the server housing. Other components within the server unit, such as power supplies, amplifiers and motors, also generate excess heat that is typically expelled from the server housing by strong fans that circulate air through the housing. Therefore, a major portion of the heat given off by a server unit in operation constitutes wasted energy.
In some systems, cooling is performed by a strong ventilation system that draws heated air from a large, enclosed area that houses as many as one hundred or more servers (e.g., a server farm). Since each server can consume as much as 30 kW, ventilation of waste heat or energy from such as system can also put a heavy strain on an air conditioning system in the enclosed area housing the servers.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a method and apparatus for recycling exhaust air expelled from a computer server.